Customer Reviews

Seven Days to the Sea: An Epic Novel of the Exodus

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved this book even more than Rebecca Kohn's first novel, "The Gilded Chamber".
Upon opening "Seven Days to the Sea", I was instantly transported back into Ancient Egypt. The amount of research the author put into this book must have been immense. I could feel the sun and the dust of the desert, and see every moment of the story play out before my eyes. This is the best kind of historical fiction--a portal to the past, not a TV drama with modern characters in cheap period clothing. By reading this book, you will come to understand what daily life in the time of Moses might have been like, and some of your perceptions of a familiar story will be challenged. (Can you imagine Moses as a passionate young man, instead of an eighty-year old man with a white beard and staff?)
Miryam and Tzipporah are both complex, sometimes flawed three-dimensional characters who are also easy to admire as strong women in very different ways.
Miryam gives up a life as a wife of a man she loves in order to follow a higher calling. She has true religious passion and fervor--her deepest longing is to know the God of her people, and to serve him. Miriam is a natural leader and organizer, who becomes the chief leader of the Israelite women. However, as she grows older and doubt creeps into her heart, she becomes harder and sterner from the disappointments she has suffered, and comes into conflict with her sister-in-law Tzipporah.
Tzipporah provides a stark contrast to Miryam, because she is a woman who asks the hard questions about religion. The youngest daughter of Yitro, high priest of Midian, she is a servant of the Goddess, who often questions Yahweh's (God's) harsh judgements on his people, as well as her own beliefs and the customs of her people.
In the end, Kohn weaves a story of two women who loved a great man, and their struggle to find peace with themselves and each other. I would highly recommend "Seven Days to the Sea" to a biblical or women's fiction enthusiast, or anyone who wants to read a compelling and beautiful story.

For her second biblical novel, Rebecca Kohn has taken on a tougher challenge than in the first. In the excellent, The Gilded Chamber, she told the story of Queen Esther, who is so central to the action that she even gets her own eponymous book in the Bible. In Seven Days to the Sea, she once again relates an episode from the Old Testament--that of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt--from the viewpoint of the women involved. But here her characters are necessarily not present at key moments in the action--because only Moses and Yahveh are there or because Moses and Aharon are meeting with Pharoah--so there's an odd secondary quality to the first person narrative of Moses's sister, Miryam, and wife, Tzipporah. Think about it--a book about Moses with no burning bush, no scene where he gets the tablets, etc.--it's a pretty daring authorial decision. And, I have to admit, I was awfully dubious about it through at least the first half of the book, but then, to my surprise and great satisfaction as a reader, it paid off brilliantly in the end.

What Ms Kohn has done here is quite precisely to give us a somewhat slantwise view of the story, the view that the Jews who followed Moses, in rather bumptious fashion, would, after all, have had themselves. Though it was Moses who had to bear the difficult burden that Yahveh placed upon him, he did at least have the advantage that belief had been forced upon him. His people had to, for the most part, take his word for it that he was doing God's will and they should follow. Theirs was then the greater leap of faith and that they struggled mightily with it, and often against Moses and God, becomes all the more understandable when we look through their eyes. The Yahveh of Exodus is, as you'll recall, an exacting taskmaster and puts the Jews through their paces for forty long years before letting them get to the Promised Land. In Ms Kohn's narrative we get a sense of why a people whose leader had seemingly disappeared might cast a golden calf and also of why God, through Moses, would punish them so harshly for doing so. In one of the powerful dialogues near the end of the book, Tzipporah is treating the sores on Moses's face that are caused by drawing near to Yahveh and she is troubled by the demands God makes upon them, to which her husband responds:

"It is better for us to live by Yahveh's laws than the tyranny of men. Unlike men, Yahveh values life more than property."

"His punishments are too harsh," I whispered.

"Would His children listen otherwise?"

I could not bring myself to give the answer Moses sought, though I knew it to be true.

Moses sighed. "The people have not learned to act with the responsibility that freedom demands. In their hearts they are still slaves. For the time being only fear of His anger will teach them the wisdom of His laws. I pray it will not always be so."

It is a vain prayer, I said to myself.

"The yoke of leadership is heavy," he added.

And not just of leadership, but of freedom, because it does require that we learn to act responsibly and that we bend to His laws. It is as she teaches us these timeless lessons again, and makes us see how great was the struggle to accept them even as God Himself was teaching them, that Ms Kohn's novel achieves a real resonance that applies to our own lives. This is a book that will reward the patient reader greatly.

I loved hearing Bible stories as a child, and so now that I'm adult, I've been thrilled to read the same stories but written with more detail and depth. I love relating to these women from thousands of years ago - finding similarities and stark differences in culture.
I was looking for a good follow up from THe REd TEnt - and this book was wonderful in how it explored the relationship of Miriam and Zipporah. I gave it 4 stars because although I enjoyed it, it took me a long time to get through it, slow, but interesting read - it covers a lot of detail, description (moreso than plot). But I thoroughly enjoyed it. Upon finishing I was excited to read the Exodus again - to see how much reference is given in the Bible to these women's characters.

This book was a disappointment - in style, in substance and in view of the author's last book The Gilded Chamber: A Novel of Queen Esther which I thoroughly enjoyed.

This book tells the story of the Exodus though the eyes of Miriam and Tzipporah, Moses' wife. The book makes Miriam appear vain and overly concerned about her role and position, and jealous of her younger brother Moses. Tzipporah comes across as a self centered confirmed idol worshipper who is an indifferent wife and mate to Moses, except when they are older and he becomes indifferent to her. The picture is certainly not the image of The Ten Commandments' Yvonne De Carlo.

The story we read follows the big picture of the Exodus but with details greatly changed from either the wording in the Torah itself or from what has become generally accepted such as the timing and circumstances of the birth of Moses son Eliezer. Aharon appears pleasant, pleasing and compliant as traditional thought, and his wife Elisheva plays a strong role. Perhaps the most moving part of the book for me was the description of Elisheva's feelings and torment when her two eldest sons, Nadav and Avihu, were struck dead - feelings that I had not previously thought about.

There were other moving moments because the author personalizes some of the events with great feeling, but the overall tenor of the book was a disappointment for me.

When a biblical story comes in the form of such a historical fiction swing reading it is compulsory. Its very rare that an author comes along and puts a exciting spin on a story that has been told and retold for thousands of years. This was a wonderful read on that I would encourage other people to partake of such a wonderful work of art conception of the mind. Ms. Kohn you have a fan for life.

Thank you
Dorothy Arida

Definitely on the same page as The Red Tent-biblical fiction from a woman's point of view (in this case two women). Enjoyed the story; especially Tziporrah's. I found Miryam too arrogant and full of herself. I've never read the Old Testament version of Exodus, although I'm familiar with the story. Was Moses so self-absorbed and angry? Was Yahveh (God) as punishing, angry and unforgiving as portrayed in this book? As a Jew, I would hate to believe so. These two last mentioned portrayals were the only things that ruined this book for me. Otherwise, the writing and dialogue were easy to follow and the characters well- developed. An easy and fast read-I recommend.

I really liked this book. My second favourite Bible story is the story of the Exodus so this was a wonderful read. I liked that instead of telling it from Moses' POV she tells it from his sister and wife. Women glossed over in the Bible.

Miryam is a stern, right seeking, woman who focuses her efforts on her brother to an intense degree. She forgoes marriage, and even happiness to see him rise and fulfill his destiny. She's not always likeable. Many times in the book I found she got on my nerves, especially when it comes to Tzipporah.

Tzipporah, Moses' wife, comes from outside the Israelite people. She worships totally different, but still loves Moses and he loves her knowing this. She does keep secret her religious leanings though. And sometimes through the book when she goes back to that it seems out of place. But you do get to know her better than you do from the Bible. I've only ever heard her mentioned maybe twice in a church setting.

This book goes from before Moses' birth to their wanderings in the desert and beyond. It's a worthwhile book to sit and read.

Most of us have been to religious school or otherwise learned the story of the EXODUS. However most bible stories are from the man's point of view. It was quite interesting to read a book, albeit fiction, from the point of view of Miryam and Tsipporah, alternately. I finally found a real connection to the story in this compelling novel.
There are study questions at the end which make it a good choice for Literary Circles too. I do recommend this book to women first, because I don't think men would be satisfied with the author's outlook. However, it really is a good read for everyone.

I love these Biblical fiction books!
They make me go back and reread the Bible stories, which is always good!
I have read other books by this author and found them somewhat trashy, but this one was very well written and I think did well in presenting her characters and making them real to me.
This is the retold story of Moses and his wife and sister

I read some reviews about this book, but by the time I read them, I was already under the spell of Myriam and Tzippora. The cover is so colorful that it makes you feel guilty when you put it down. It also looks good on a shelf, with its green spine and gilded lattice print.

I can't say I found this story "epic." I think this demanding subject needed a little bit more power. One can't help but remember Charlton Heston in his corny portrayal of Moses and lovely Yvonne de Carlo playing the role of his wife.

I think this subject is been done so many times that one can hardly add anything different. Same women who are either barren or are conniving temptresses, same sense of self denial and utmost sacrifice for the the women who are neither barren or conniving. Even Margaret George couldn't manage to write a good story when she tried "Mary Called Magdalene."

"Seraglio" was one of Kohn's better works. I have the impression this book wasn't planned. Seems to me she had the material but no storyline to put them together.

Love the Shepardess, I really wanted to know about her. I will keep the book, although for the most part, unread.